The Arizona sentinel., 1887-08-06
THEM WIMMEN." !"
What They Could Do When They
 Were Tried.


 "Deary me, Ann." murmured a fisher wife, as she turned one corner of the net she was mending out on the sunny sands one morning, ''thet sma' cot up wonder on ther cliff hez at last been let again to a couple O them fine women wot come out here putty nigh ev'ry summer ter get tanned an smell ther salt air Alack! if they knew O ther graves away down below. an thet ther waves they make sich talk about hev washed many a dead face ere they touch there shoreP'
 Aye, aye!'' crooned another woman, wrinkled and brown from a long life on the sands. It's sorry day when the boats go out at dawnin' with all sails set that never come back ter ther beach! Ef them idle women knowned wot ther waves could tell!'
 "An' wotll we do," chimed in younger woman, holding aloft the long, shining needle in one hand, and turning with the other the black ened sail on her lap, ''wot'll we do wi them fine wimmin botherin' bout us day in an day out, gossippin' bout ther weather an ther boats an our bizness, ez eff yves he'd nothin' bet ter ter do n ter tell 'em mebby et'Il be fair day, an mebby et'll be foul, an ther boats out over ther water b'long ter our men, till one's hearts like ter break wi thar senseless chat ter O wot they kyant understan' from never bavin' ter bear t all!''
 'An' ten ter one," joined in an- other woman just beyond the excited group, ''theY' Il hev. goin's on like all ther others, a settin' on ther rocks wi 'brellas over ther heads ez though ther sun might spile lem, a-whisper- in bout love an summer forever. when they know no more bout life an what love hez ter bear than babies in thar cradles! An it be jes' like 'em ter take ther boats, ez those uns did las summer, an swamp 'em on the rocks, an larf ct us fer ther loss! What do them wimmin know bout sich lives ez ours?"
 '.Nothin'," was the crisp reply of a young, black-eyed woman, who mend ed her net with delft fingers, roughen- ed and brown. ''They jes' couldn't guess ct our lives, Mary Ann-how could they know? An we know no more bout 'em. S'pose we wait n see fore we jedge 'em! Thar's my Jimmie pad dlin' of outen her depth agen! I'm kept in continual worry bout thet child! She's got no more fear in her than hez her fevther. n ther sea's a secon' mither ter herr'
 "Jane's quick wi speakin', but her heart is soft in spite O it. an she hez sof' spot, special fer Jem an Jinnier' murmured Mary Ann. taking a fresh knot in the sleek rope of the net
 Knowing nothing of this that had passed about them, nor of the distrust and dislike felt toward them by the fisher people along the sands, the two fine wimmen," orphaned sisters, took up their abode at the tiny rose bound cottage high on the cliffs, full in the face of the ocean. and went their quiet way, seeking the rest for which they had come, lying some times for hours together upon the cliffs where the sun shone warmest, watch ing in half-awed silence the wonder ful life of the sea restlessly surging to and fro beneath them.
 'Arfter all, them ain sech silly erect CTS ez some of 'em that comes hyar," acknowledged Patience Blake one pausing with her needle in the net to glance up the sands to the sunny cleft where the two quiet figures were sitting. "An' Nancy hyar seen one of lem pat Jimmie on ther head t'other day"
 Aye" joined in the eager mother. ''an' she speaked ter that chit too, an ca ed her bonnie lassr'
 "An' she's won your heart Janer' laughed one of the women, tender ring under the rough voice.
 But one day-one fatal day-the hearts of the women were tried. The women among the roses and the women among the fish nets proved that each were women with hearts to suffer to- gether.
 Mischievous Jimmie Blake had strayed from sight of her mothers watchful eyes, around the cliffs up toward the north while the tide was low, until tired out with the tramp and the heat she nestled beside a shady rock, and resting her flushed face on her dimpled arms, fioated off into dreamland.
 There were clouds in the western sky, They had hung there threaten